Ellen,
Most SI winners aren't any smarter than you. They just spend time figuring out how to best "play the game." I haven't entered much in the last few months (just been too busy), but for this one, there'd be a basic technique I'm sure most followed: 1. Go through a dictionary (as long as you have the time for - obviously you can't look at the whole thing) 2. When you come to a word that has an ending that sounds amusing, write it down, then see if there's another amusing word that starts somewhere near the ending of the word. 3. See if you can think of a definition that incorporates both words, and maybe has a pun in it to boot. I can guarantee there were plenty of base words those submitters didn't know either (that just sounded funny), before breaking out Mr. Webster. Some of the SI "Losers" spend HOURS every week on this. It's really more (a) figuring out HOW to start, (b) putting in some TIME to look for something funny, (c) coming up with an ANGLE (usually a pun), and rewriting (usually tightening & shortening - "brevity is the soul of wit"). Every contest is different, of course. And yes, there are definitely a handful of Losers I'd put in the genius category (Russ Beland, Chris Doyle, Brendan Beary, Kevin Dopart, and of course Chuck Smith -- plus Jennifer Hart if she ever started entering again). But even they have to work at it, most of the time. Randy ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Patch Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 4:58 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [wc] Re: Style Invitational winners... --- In [email protected] <mailto:weingartenchatters%40yahoogroups.com> , "Ellen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > are clearly WAY smarter than me. Today I learned 3 new words! > sebum--the stuff that causes oily hair and skin (lovely, right?) > threnody--an elegy > dishabille--dressed casually or carelessly > > Funny thing, the contest was to create portmanteau words and someone > created "yiddishabille," and I wasn't even sure if the original word > was "dishabille" or "shabille"--that is how unfamiliar I was with it. > I guess it's like "disheveled"? Shabille doesn't exist, so I figured > it must be dishabille. This is why I don't enter this contest--I > wouldn't stand a chance. More power to these people who are > apparently experts in the field of obscure words. The opposite of dishabille is probably habille. It's a cognate for a French word meaning the same thing. It may not be familiar to it, but it would appear to be derived from the same linguistic root as "disheveled". David Patch (Word Geek)
